CHAPEL HILL – Jean Ranc, who lives off Martin Luther King, Jr., Boulevard, was one of many residents who have said that no matter how many public meetings are held, they won’t be happy with the proposed plans for the Central West area.

Ranc said she believed it would create more traffic and density problems near her neighborhood.

“It makes me more upset the more I think about it because it just doesn’t make any sense,” Ranc said.

Ranc joined a crowd of close to 200 Tuesday night as part of the Central West Steering Committee’s public feedback session. It was a chance for Chapel Hillians to review maps laying out possible land uses and building heights for new development along the Estes Drive corridor.

 

The four different map versions featured mixed-use development located on the north side of Estes near the Martin Luther King, Jr., Boulevard intersection. The plans call for residential development to be located closer to schools, as well as a mix of office, institutional and higher density housing to the south.

“This is an exercise in futility to develop these particular parcels on Estes Drive, which is already crowded,” Ranc said.

Amy Ryan, Co-Chair of the committee and a Chapel Hill Town Council candidate, said the Committee was aware of the numerous issues that the residents were apprehensive about, such as an increase in traffic and the safety of school children.

Ryan said the that Committee would continue to recognize those concerns, while trying to achieve the vision of the Chapel Hill 2020 plan.

“I think it is important for people to remember that we are still at the stage where what we are presenting are just ideas that we are thinking about,” Ryan said. “We are bringing them out to the community tonight to get feedback from them so that when we actually make decisions, we have that community feedback.”

But some Committee members, like Julie McClintock, argued a fifth map should be included. That lower-density map is a version drafted by an unofficial subgroup, and members have said they can’t support any of the committee’s concept plans.

That group, along with other concerned citizens, set up outside of the meeting Tuesday night at Amity Methodist Church. They displayed their own map, information, and renderings, with the message that the Central West planning area was not the place for intensive urban development.

“Somehow we have ended up with a set of plans which really don’t jive with what the community is happy with,” McClintock said. “The idea of this whole process is that we were going to take it out to the community and see what they liked, come back, adjust and go back.”

Alan Tom, who lives on Caswell Road off Estes Drive, was one of many residents who feared the development would create environmental problems. He said that certain areas, such as Camelot Village and University Mall, which were damaged as a result of this summer’s flash flooding, are down stream from the proposed Central West area.

“When you have more buildings, you have more impermeable surfaces, therefore more run-off, so flooding could become an issue,” Tom said.

Tom also said that he and many other residents believed that the wooded area south of Estes Drive ought to be preserved.

Michael Parker, Co-Chair of the Central West Steering Committee and Transportation Board representative, said that the Committee would take all of the feedback, both good and bad, and incorporate it into discussions at their September 19meeting.

“First, I would encourage them to make sure that that they fully understand where they are in the process and what’s being thought about and what is being thought about with options,” Parker said.

Parker added that the Committee was on-target to make final recommendations to the Town Council on November 25.